The Flash’s first tie-in to Forever Evil was not quite what I expected. The main reason I buy the regular monthly title is for the villains because I’ve never been much of a Barry Allen fan. I grew up with Wally West, so his lack of existence is still a little bit jarring for me as a reader. So when I saw that he was only on the cover and not actually in the issue, I was kind of excited. That being said, I’ve always been a fan of the Rogues, but (excluding a brief cameo) by the Pied Piper, they weren’t in the issue either. Which immediately replaced my excitement with the thought of “so this entire issue is going to be about gorillas?” And, well, it was.

So essentially the entire issue was full of pretty good art by Chris Batista, featuring a pretty boring character and supporting cast (not to mention violent yet unnecessary cameos by D-list Flash villains), and a decent attempt at making me care about such a ridiculous concept. All in all, Brian Buccellato has proven the last couple of years that he really needs the constant inclusion of the Rogues and the artwork of Francis Manapul to pull off such a ridiculous character. Barry Allen is boring. Gorilla Grodd has never been believable for me. And yet, even though I usually find myself laughing whenever Grodd appears on a page, it was actually okay for a one-shot. The script was just straight-forward enough and the concept of Grodd finally winning and realizing that he himself is a living, breathing contradiction was a nice change of pace. The fact that he pretty much just says “I’m bored” at the end, was not only a nice nod to the audience (who were probably rolling their eyes at this point in the series), but also a great beginning to a potentially interesting character arc. I’m looking forward to seeing Grodd show up and cause some grief for the Rogues or whoever is dumb enough to cross him in the future.

Overall, it’s not worth the extra dollar for the fancy cover, but a decent enough issue. Get the regular cover if you’re a Flash fan, if you like giant talking Gorillas (who now have tapped into the Speed Force and have some fancy new powers), or you’re at all curious about the upcoming Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion miniseries, which looks like it will be quite a fun read. I’m excited for the other Flash tie-ins, especially that miniseries, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I really didn’t hate this one.